Today we’d like to introduce you to Maura McCarthy and Paul Nassar.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Maura and Paul. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Started from the bottom, now we’re here.
Eight years ago, my daughter’s friends were getting caught tagging and kicked out of catholic school. I was a creative director in Hollywood and thought, “Oh, they just need something to paint!”
Naive to a fault, I threw my first Paint-Off. Flash forward 8 years, many Paint-Offs, Paint N SK8s, Sunday Night Lights, art walks, tours in vans, festivals, and now we are a 501c3. We’ve traveled the world on behalf of this cause looking to see if these kid’s lives are the same everywhere, globally. They are. And if anyone is doing much with them. They aren’t.
I added Paulie to the cause when I saw that we needed a strong hold on the mentoring side. He’s someone who offered a role model pressence at being a professional artist. He brings New York with him and the experience of having had over 30 gallery shows. He body paints also which tickles the artists, kind of like the thrill of being in the streets but gives it a safe and sane spin.
I have written a curriculum which teaches fine-art at the wall and an after-school program that any age can learn to workout at the wall… like a sport, you need a place for mastery.
We advocate for permanent walls in parks, similar to how parks now have skateparks, we hope that the city and every city will see what we know to be true, these guys and girls just want to paint. We don’t give them any fields to workout on so they “take them.”
Someday we will have workout walls in every park in the world and cities will build mural walls for artists, instead of struggle to integrate art on buildings. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s simply not progressive. We see formal mural walls being the way that art is brought into communities without fear of destruction or strife, and architect’s buildings can be left as the art that they created.
Until then, we strive to get people to care about young artists who have very little guidance in the direction for art. Art schools tell us they need our kids to solve the world’s design problems and they are counting on us to deliver.
Has it been a smooth road?
No. My own friends flat out told me that they didn’t care about these kids, nor did they think it was interesting that I was helping them. Some have turned around though when they saw that we added education to the cause.
We have zero outside funding, except for a single grant for a van. To call us shoestring is implying we have shoes… but we are scrappy and solid.
We have the potential to alter the entire landscape for urban artists and we need more exposure. We need more people to believe in these kids and to think that what we are doing is valuable.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Off The Wall Graffiti – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We teach fine-art and design at the wall, which is unique to us.
We are the only nonprofit which focuses on the whole person. We want them all to graduate high school AND college. We watch for their talent and their well-being and step in when they are faltering. We stay with them and develop them past age 25. Hopefully they will also return to mentor with us. Our love for them stays. It’s 24/7.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I like how I have lived here for 31 years and I still find places that I haven’t been and it is beautiful every day. I feel good here. I can breathe a big breath because LA can handle my aspirations.
I love how it holds people’s hopes and dreams inside its geography and if you keep your dreams, it keeps them for you, too. It’s the city of angels and they are good angels.
What I like least… it’s not branded well enough. I feel like design has not been in the forefront like I have seen other cities, like DC and Berlin.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5807 Tobias Ave
Sherman Oaks, CA
91411 - Website: http://www.offthewallgraffiti.org
- Phone: 310-733-7679
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offthewallgraffiti/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/offthewallgraffiti
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/offthewallgraff
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
